Hollywood What If Chapter 496
When the management of Universal Pictures understood Stella's promotion plan, they agreed to it. Even Ronald was surprised by the woman's meticulous planning.
With that, the promotion launched, and December became an active month for Universal Pictures and anyone related to Shadows Beneath. The cast also showed up for many interviews.
The cast was paid to say that the mental hospital they visited was terrifying. They signed contracts to ensure that they wouldn't reveal the truth. The same also applied to the crew members.
A video circulated online, showcasing supposed supernatural acts that occurred on the film set. In one clip, a camera fell, prompting many people to run away.
Another story emerged about the stunt double who had an accident. He claimed he felt like someone pushed him. His medical expenses were covered by the production studio. Furthermore, Kazir promised him a role in the CCU, perhaps as a side character.
Some people suspected that these incidents were just clever marketing tactics devised by Grey Pictures and Universal Pictures. But it didn't matter, many people loved supernatural stories that defied scientific explanation.
Why do you think some people believe that the Earth is flat?
Why do you think people believe that Santa Claus is real? Santa Claus was a real person, but he surely didn't have reindeer that could fly across the sky and deliver gifts to every child in the world.
Why do you think people believe in aliens? To be fair, the existence of aliens might actually be real.
People choose to believe and that was enough for Shadows Beneath to cause a stir. As long as people were interested, they would watch the movie.
December marked the final month of the year, and Hollywood celebrated by releasing big movies such as Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, The Holiday, Charlotte's Web, Dreamgirls, Eragon, The Pursuit of Happyness, Rocky Balboa, The Good Shepherd, and Night at the Museum.
Out of all these films, Night at the Museum sold the most movie tickets, grossing $735 million.
Speaking of Eragon, this was the movie 20th Century Fox used in an attempt to replicate the success of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Eragon was based on a novel, and fans hoped it would be the next big fantasy franchise. Unfortunately, the movie underperformed. It even lost to Blood Diamond, which was released during the same week.
Walt Disney also had a fantasy franchise based on the novels titled Narnia. The franchise had a strong start but quickly faded after three movies.
Only a few novels have had successful film adaptations, such as The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, Dune, and perhaps The Maze Runner.
While all this was going on, Universal Pictures and Grey Pictures actively promoted Shadows Beneath.
Universal Pictures knew they would lose money if they didn't release the movie soon. So, when January arrived, they announced that Shadows Beneath would be released at midnight on January 5.
Universal Pictures was worried they would lose money on this endeavor... They had already spent more than $10 million promoting the movie in the United States alone.
To summarize, Universal Pictures had already spent more than $110 million. And they knew this was only the beginning. They just hoped to break even.
However, Universal Pictures also understood the reasoning behind their decision. Their stock value increased when news broke that they had acquired Kazir's movie. General Electric and Comcast were in negotiations regarding the future of Universal Pictures. General Electric wanted to sell Universal Pictures at a profitable price, which is why they decided to buy Shadows Beneath.
The cast and the director of Shadows Beneath showed up on the red carpet. Typically, the red carpet was reserved for big-budget films rather than horror films with a budget of $17 million.
Megan Fox, Chris Hemsworth, Gal Gadot, and Henry Cavill were clearly enjoying the moment as cameras flashed all around them. Everyone knew they would become instant celebrities after starring in Kazir's film, but the experience was still surreal. They finally understood how hard their agents fought to secure audition opportunities for them.
The four appeared close, like friends, when the cameras were on them... but the crew knew none of them were truly close, especially the two actresses.
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Shadows Beneath.
A group of urban explorers, led by Ethan(Chris), a charismatic yet skeptical leader, embarks on their latest adventure: exploring an abandoned mental hospital on the outskirts of a forgotten town. The group consists of Ethan's girlfriend Sara(Gal), thrill-seeker Carly(Megan), and cameraman Kyle(Henry), who loves using vintage cameras. The hospital, known as St. Dymphna's Asylum, had a notorious reputation for brutal experiments on its patients during the 1950s. Rumors of hauntings and paranormal sightings make it an ideal location for their next web episode.
Act 1: The Setup
The group arrives at St. Dymphna's on a cold, foggy evening. The towering asylum looms against the darkening sky. The building has been abandoned for decades, its windows shattered, overgrown vines crawling up the walls, and an eerie silence filling the air. Inside, they find old patient files, grim medical tools, and graffiti left by previous trespassers. Despite the unsettling atmosphere, they laugh it off, thrilled by the footage they're capturing.
Odd things begin to occur: Sara's camera malfunctions, picking up static-laced audio filled with distorted voices; Carly hears faint whispers in the corridors; Ethan, though normally grounded, feels an unshakable unease.
The group splits up to cover more ground. Kyle sets up stationary cameras hoping to capture paranormal activity. Sara begins to have vivid visions of past events she shouldn't know: doctors in blood-stained coats and screaming patients.
Act 2: The Descent
As night falls, the temperature drops and the atmosphere thickens. Paranormal phenomena intensify. Ethan sees fleeting figures out of the corner of his eye and discovers a hidden room not listed in the asylum's blueprints. Inside are photos of former patients, all with their faces scratched out.
Carly becomes increasingly distressed, claiming she saw someone watching them. The others dismiss her concerns as paranoia until Kyle's hallway camera records a figure in a hospital gown staring at it before vanishing.
The group begins to unravel. Ethan insists they continue filming, but the rest want to leave. When they try to exit, they find the doors sealed and the windows unbreakable. Their phones have no signal.
It's as though the asylum won't let them go.
Act 3: Unraveling Reality
The group is separated. Each faces a personal nightmare. Sara finds a room full of journals detailing Dr. Isaacs' horrific experiments meant to "purge" mental illness by destroying the soul. These experiments ended in the slow deaths of many patients, whose spirits now haunt the hospital.
Kyle finds a patient's journal describing a ritual used by Dr. Isaacs to bind souls to the asylum. The writer claims anyone who enters becomes part of a cycle, reliving trauma endlessly.
Carly is lured into the basement by a child's cries. In a vision, she's strapped to a bed while doctors conduct experiments. She awakens in the present but is now convinced the spirits are trying to consume them.
Act 4: The Twist
Kyle vanishes. His camera is found recording but no sign of him. Reviewing the footage, they see him being pulled into the shadows by a dark figure.
Sara and Ethan reunite. They find a locked room that Sara believes holds the truth. Inside are old photos and records of themselves.
They realize the awful truth: they were never alive. They are the spirits of former patients, doomed to relive their deaths over and over. Their memories of being explorers were fabrications created by the asylum.
"Kyle" was just a remnant of their collective memory, erased when he fulfilled his torment.
Sara remembers her death: strapped to a hospital bed, subjected to Isaacs' cruelty. The hospital feeds on fear, forcing its victims to forget and suffer anew.
Act 5: Eternal Torment
The group's memories return. They see their past lives, each a patient tormented by Dr. Isaacs. The asylum is alive, feeding on the souls trapped within.
Sara and Ethan realize they're part of an endless cycle. The final shot is of Sara staring into a mirror, her reflection turning into her true, tortured form. As the screen fades to black, the sound of a new group entering the hospital echoes.
Final scene: A fresh group of explorers arrives, unaware of the cycle. The camera pans across Ethan and Sara standing silently in the dark, hollow-eyed, watching the newcomers, themselves, the next victims, begin the journey they've already lived countless times.
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Anyway, the premiere occurred without issue.
Because the movie was directed by Kazir Grey, the first 24 hours of Shadows Beneath grossed $18 million.
On the second day (January 6), it made another $23 million.
Then Sunday, the third day, it earned another $14 million.
The opening weekend grossed $58 million.
When Universal Pictures saw these results, they breathed a sigh of relief. Based on the movie's performance, there was now a high chance of making a profit.
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[Author's Note: Shadows Beneath was written by ChatGPT. Honestly, ChatGPT can cook up some intriguing scripts, I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood started using AI to write screenplays(I heard they are already doing it). I edited it a little, but there might still be plot holes. I admit I can't write a script like this.]
[This chapter is over 2,000 words—1,100 words of Shadows Beneath and 900 words written by me. I apologize for using ChatGPT for making a script.]